Medusa Coils

Fiercely defending, bravely exploring Goddess and spiritual feminisms

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Buzz Coil: April

Goddess in a Teapot: The April 6 post, "Find Your Power with Max Dashu" is a well-deserved tribute to Max Dashu and her work. If you’re not acquainted with this wonderful Goddess historian, let this post be your introduction. Max has for many years been untiring in her willingness to help others learn about the Goddess both in her workshops and on Internet discussion lists. After you read the Teapot blog post, go on over to Max’s website suppressedhistories.net , where you can read many of Max’s engrossing essays and reviews, and see clips from her newly released DVD "Woman’s Power" (and read the transcript!).

The Village Witch: In her blog running in the Asheville N.C Citizen-Times, Byron Ballard writes a 3-part series on Beltane beginning on April 14. Part I gives a general background on the "old customs of May Day" and the holiday’s relationship to sex. Part II (April 15) expands on loving our physical bodies. Part III (April 16) discusses developing a new attitude that replaces self-hate with self-love.

Wild Hunt Blog: In a April 24 post, "National Day of Prayer vs. May Day," Jason Pitzl-Waters asks readers to act on the issue of restricting the U.S. "National Day of Prayer," to activities based on "Judeo-Christian principles." This year NDP coincides with Beltane. Jason gives some options available to you to join people of other faiths in objecting to limiting NDP to just certain religions. And while you’re at the Wild Hunt, you might also want to have a look at Jason’s lovely April 22 "Earth Day" post.

At the end of desire: Blogger Inanna explores the meaning of "desire" in both Pagan and other trads , especially as it appears in the phrase from the Charge of the Goddess, which her blog is named after. A number of posts on the subject start on April 15 with "Desire’s End, Part I." and continue at least through April 20.

When you choose to embrace the shamanic lifestyle, you can’t get away with anything. If you find yourself making fun of something, soon enough you become the butt of the joke yourself.

Evoking the Goddess:In his April 13 post, "Goddesses Restored to Memory" blogger Paul writes that archeologists in the UK are unearthing tributes to Goddesses native to the British Isles put there by the Romans about 2,000 years ago. You’ve probably heard of some the goddesses, such as Brigantia, but others are apparently becoming known to us for the first time through these excavations.

Goddessing:Blogger Sage tells us about the baby girl in India born with two faces, whom the local population is worshipping as a reincarnation or emanation of the Goddess Durga, in her April 9 post, "Durga Reincarnated."

I have had it with red herring questions...pre-empting conversations about the real issues that Reclaiming has avoided for years. I am speaking here mostly of Bay Area Reclaiming, but frankly the patterns that have been set here get exported regularly to other areas.......the attempt to exercise power-over, to control the very questions that may even be discussed, becomes the topic of discussion. Feminism, as a movement based upon the notion that the personal is the political, can't be about shutting down discussion. ....sadly, young women...are as willing to shut down those women in boxy blazers (we all know that's code for "up-hip middle-aged woman") as the women in the boxy blazers are to tell young women to shut up about issues that weren't as important to us when we were blazing new feminist trails back in the sixties and seventies....ThatClinton's candidacy has gotten us -- boxy-blazered old women and young women --talking about generational issues seems to me like one of the benefits of her campaign.

The-Goddess:In her April 16 post, "Prosecuting Polygamy," blogger Morgaine comments on an AlterNet article and says that for her, the issue in the recent raid on the Fundamentalist Church of LDS is not plural marriage, but child abuse.

Women and Spirituality: In an April 21 post, this site offers a special Mothers Day combo deal on the DVDs "Women and Spirituality" by Donna Read (previously a video trilogy) and "Signs Out of Time," Donna Read and Starhawk’s documentary about Marija Gimbutas.In an April 15 post, "A Crone’s Files," Donna Read shares part of the original script by Starhawk for part of the Women and Spirituality videos. Read says she found the script recently while cleaning out her files. It's really nice to have access to this. Thanks, Donna!Charlene Spretnak’s April 4 post, "Present at Creation" looks at her look at photos from "a momentous event" about 30 years ago: the first large gathering of women’s spirituality, which took place in Santa Cruz CA. In a comment to this post, Carol P. Christ gives us some welcome info: her keynote address at this event (and later much-published essay) "Why Women Need the Goddess" is now online. If you’ve never read this, what are you waiting for?In an April 16 post, "What an arranged marriage can feel like to an intelligent young girl," Carol P. Christ discusses the tradition among polygamist Mormons, Muslims, and rural Greeks (Christians?), and she relates a combined story about this custom’s effects. In her April 8 post, "Questions Not Asked: The Popes visit to the U.S.," Carol discusses what few others have, including this Pope’s silencing of theologians and denying women their reproductive rights.In an April 7 post, "Soul Sisters and Laundry," Susan Reimer-Torn discusses the Kabbalist doctrine called in Hebrew, "gilgul neshamot," a variation on reincarnation in which each person’s soul contains sparks from several previous people’s souls.In an April 6 post, "Learning from Our Mistakes,"Starhawk tells about staying with Margot Adler when Starhawk returned to the States after getting "thown out of Israel" and the consolation she’s found in her permaculture work at home. With pics.In her April 3 post, "Scorpio Rising,"Amina Wadud, shares the spiritual apsects of her natal astrological chart.The blogs at Women and Spirituality are wonderful! I just wish there was more contrast between the text (yellow) and background (lavender on my screen), so it would be easier to read. A deep purple background would do it!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Budapest Goddess Festival this June

You might want to make your travel plans now, so we don't want to wait until next month to let you know about the Goddess Festival in Budapest, Hungary on June 17-22. Szilvia Simon, organizer of the Festival writes:

According to legend, the sovereignty of Hungary was bequeathed by Istvan, the first king, to the Queen of Heaven in the person of the Virgin Mary. But for millennia, since Paleolithic times, the Goddess, by numberless names, was honoured here in the cauldron of the Carpathian Basin and on the banks of the Mother river, the Danube. For a long while, the land was divided between the Celts and the Scythians, each of whom called Her by different names. In our festival of 2008, we will be remembering these names and calling them back to heal us. We will call on Brigit to heal the inner child, on Epona to heal our sexuality, on Deae Matronae to heal the wounds of motherhood, on Tabiti to reclaim the fire of the amazon and Nemetona, Lady of Sacred Groves to heal our connection with the earth which has borne us. Come and join us, here in the very centre of Europe, where our distant ancestors lived, loved and died, to reclaim the continent for the Goddess who lives in us all and who is the very land itself!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Events Coil: April 13-June 4

As far as we know, all events we list are open functions; but some may be limited to women or to adults. Please check the websites for group policies. If no country is given, the event is in the USA. All times are local. Links to events lasting more than 1 day are bolded. When listing events for the same date, we have tried to list those occurring first, taking into account time zone differences. If there is a difference between our listings and the listings on the web page linked to, assume their web page is correct, as it may have changed since we listed from it. The next Events Coil is planned for mid-May and will include events listed here that haven't yet happened, plus new events through early July. If you have an event you want listed in future Events Coils, please leave info a comment. See the end of this Coil for what info we need for listings.April 13, 11 a.m. Service honoring Nut (Nuit) with guest prestess Debbie Barnett, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

We'll be happy to add your Goddess and spiritual feminist events (and those you know about that are open to the public) no matter where in the world they are. Leave a comment with your event, giving: Name of event, sponsoring organization (if any), town, date, time (if known), and, required: url of website where person can get more info. (Do NOT give street addresses, phone numbers or email addresses. People should go to the website to get that info.) We plan to publish an Events Coil every month.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

RCGI Seasonal Salon: Spring Equinox Issue

I really enjoyed this issue of RCGI Seasonal Salon. Here's what's in it:"Awakening Earth" by Debra Smith. Debra writes about her love for spring and even includes a recipe for Key Lime Pie (green, spring, get it?)"A Forgotten Animal Spirit Guide" by Bellezza Squillace. Bellezza and her partner find a donkey sanctuary amazing and inspiring. Bellezza explains the four types of Animal Spirit Guides and lists qualities that make Donkey a spirit guide candidate.

"Rising Up" by Max Dashu tells about the relationship of spring to physiology and to Goddesses of various cultures."Up-Shifting Energetic Gears!" by Marisa Folse gives theories about energy shifts in 2008 affecting rituals, shamanic jounreys, astral travel, and distance healing. Marisa gives instructions on how to "up-shift" to the next energy stage."Nymphs" by Patricia Monaghan tells us about Greek nature spirits who are not always recognized as goddesses, and describes their categories.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Global Goddess Oracle: Spring Equinox Issue

The Spring Equinox issue of Global Goddess Oracle opens with a beautiful statement/invocation/guided meditation by Bendis, "Honoring This Place" that refers to "the Land, the Sky,...the Sea" as "our Holy Trinity." Bendis (also identified as Deanne Quarrie) contributes another major article, "Welcoming a Goddess," in which she tells how she gets to know a Goddess and gives instructions so you can do it too.

Wendy Knox Morton tells a touching and true holiday story in "The Easter Bunny?" about a single mother’s difficult choices and various types of "truth."

Do gerbils and goddesses share your computer? Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., explores this issue in her article, "The Computer Goddesses," as she introduces several "found" computer goddesses and suggests invocations.

In "Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg"Mama Donna Henes tells about the Spring Equinox as "the birth of the earth," with various egg mythologies.

Mat Danu in "Through the Maiden’s Eyes" teaches a game/ritual for groups to call in the Maiden for Spring.

Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas shares a "Solitary Vernal Equinox Ritual,"and also a book review of On Becoming An Alchemist by Catherine MacCoun, the "Herb of the Season: Jasmine" and "Moon Schedule from Ostara to Beltane."

Poetry in this issue includes "Blessing at this Time of Birth" by Bendis (with pics), "Ostara" by Mat Danu, and "Wave on Wave of the Sea Mare’s Rave" by Chris Carol.

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